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Rwanda said on Thursday that any Africans can board the plane to their country without a visa as the continent opens up for free people's movement.
Rwanda became the latest nation in Africa to put this measure in place aiming at boosting the free movement of people and trade to rival Europe’s Schengen zone.
President Paul Kagame announced in the Rwandan capital, Kigali during the 23rd Global Summit of the World Travel and Tourism Council.
“Any African can get on a plane to Rwanda whenever they wish and they will not pay a thing to enter our country," Kagame said.
“We should not lose sight of our own continental market. Africans are the future of global tourism as our middle class continues to grow at a fast pace in the decades to come", he added.
Free visa for Africans travelling to Seychelles, Gambia and Benin has been implemented earlier. Rwanda will be in the fourth position in Africa to make landmarks in removing travel restrictions for Africans.
Kenya’s President William Ruto said on Monday that the country also taking steps to allow all Africans to board the plane to Kenya without a visa by the 31st of December.
Ruto said at an international summit in Congo Brazzaville. “Visa restrictions amongst ourselves are working against us. When people cannot travel, business people cannot travel, entrepreneurs cannot travel we all become net losers".
The African Union in 2016 launched an African passport with much fanfare, saying it would rival the European Union model in “unleashing the potential of the continent.” However, only diplomats and AU officials have been issued the travel document so far.
The African Passport and free movement of people is "aimed at removing restrictions on Africans ability to travel, work and live within their own continent,” The AU says on its website.
AU also launched the African Continental Free Trade Area, a continent-wide free trade area estimated to be worth $3.4 trillion, which aims to create a single unified market for the continent’s 1.3 billion people and boost economic development.
Additional information from the Independent
非洲同意人員自由流動，盧安達宣布向非洲人提供免費簽證
盧安達週四表示，隨著非洲大陸對人員自由流動開放，任何非洲人都可以無需簽證登機前往該國
盧安達成為最新實施此措施的非洲國家，旨在促進人員和貿易自由流動，與歐洲申根區相媲美。
保羅卡加梅總統在盧安達首都基加利舉行的世界旅行和旅遊理事會第 23 屆全球高峰會上宣布，
“任何非洲人都可以隨時搭乘飛往盧安達的飛機，而且他們無需支付任何費用即可進入我們的國家。”
卡加梅表示：「我們不應該忽視我們自己的大陸市場。 非洲人是全球旅遊業的未來，因為我們的中產階級在未來幾十年將繼續快速增長。”
非洲人前往塞席爾、岡比亞和貝南的免簽證政策已於早前實施。 盧安達將成為非洲第四個在取消非洲人旅行限制方面具有里程碑意義的國家。
肯亞總統威廉·魯托週一表示，該國還採取措施，允許所有非洲人在 12 月 31 日之前無需簽證即可登機前往肯亞。
他是在剛果布拉柴維爾舉行的國際高峰會上這麼說的。 「我們之間的簽證限制對我們不利。 當人們無法旅行、商人無法旅行、企業家無法旅行時，我們都會成為淨輸家」。
2016 年，非洲聯盟大張旗鼓地推出了非洲護照，稱其將在「釋放非洲大陸的潛力」方面與歐盟模式相媲美。 然而，到目前為止，只有外交官和非盟官員獲得了旅行證件。
非盟在其網站上表示，非洲護照和人員自由流動「旨在消除對非洲人在非洲大陸旅行、工作和生活能力的限制」。
非洲聯盟也啟動了非洲大陸自由貿易區，這是一個估計價值3.4兆美元的非洲大陸自由貿易區，旨在為非洲大陸13億人口創建單一統一市場，促進經濟發展。
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